Have
a
Great—and
Fire
Safe—Summer!Next RBDA General Meeting
Wednesday September 8, 2010

Bonny Doon School
Multipurpose RoomIce Cream Grade &
Pine
Flat Road

Final
EIR
on
Expanded
UCSC Water Due Soon

The final version of the Environmental Impact
Report on
expansion of City water and sewer services to UCSC’s Upper (or North)
Campus
should be released later this month, and will come to the Santa Cruz
City
Council for certification on July 27.

The City is acting as the lead agency preparing
the EIR and
sharing the cost with the University. The EIR was necessitated by the
City’s
and UCSC’s applications to LAFCO, the Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation
Commission, for permission to expand water and sewer services. If
granted, UCSC
can begin developing the lower half of this natural area, which lies
outside
City limits and the present boundaries of its service districts. It
lies, in
fact, in Bonny Doon, east of the Cave Gulch neighborhood.

Ever since the plan to expand onto the Upper
Campus was
announced in 2005, as part of UCSC’s 2005-2020 Long Range Development
Plan, the
RBDA Board has been fighting to prevent or limit what would be the
densest and
largest development ever in Bonny Doon.

In August 2008 an agreement among UCSC, the
City and the
County, the RBDA and CLUE, the Coalition for Limiting University
Expansion,
settled several lawsuits and countersuits. Under the settlement, UCSC
agreed to
seek LAFCO approval for the Upper Campus development, though it
reserved the
right to reinstate its suit claiming that it isn’t subject to LAFCO’s
jurisdiction, contrary to the opinion of LAFCO Executive Director Pat
McCormick
and several City and County officials.

The Draft EIR for the water and sewer service
extension was
issued in January, and attracted a slew of critical comments regarding
conflicts with the City’s and the County’s General Plans defining the
urban/rural boundary; and the impacts on flora and fauna (including
some
species fighting for survival), on the City’s limited water resources,
on its
Cave Gulch neighbors and on Empire Grade traffic, and possible
contributions to
global warming.

More recently, a new citizens’ group, the
Community Water
Coalition, filed a suit claiming that State LAFCO law requires that the
agency
that provides the water and sewer services, i.e., the City, must be the
one to
apply to LAFCO for extension of those services, rather than the
recipient, the
University. A first hearing on this suit is scheduled for July 7, soon
after
this Highlander went to press.

Prior to the City Council’s July 27 public
hearing on the EIR
certification, the text of the EIR will be released. The legal
requirement is a
minimum of 10 days for the public, applicable agencies and people who
criticized the Draft EIR to review the changes. That is hardly adequate
time
for a document so lengthy and complicated, and with such far-reaching
and
long-lasting impacts on people and the environment. Additionally, many
people with
detailed knowledge and keen interest in the EIR may be on summer
vacation. It
would be a much more open and better process if the City Council
hearing were
to take place in mid- or late September. Unless, of course, the City
Council
hopes to limit public review as much as possible.

Once the EIR is certified, the LAFCO
commissioners will be able
to schedule their own public meeting to approve or deny the service
expansion,
pending any legal challenges to the Final EIR’s compliance with
California
Environmental Quality Act(CEQA)
requirements.

Cemex Abandons the Bonny Doon Quarry

On April Fool’s Day, Cemex told the County that
they
would idle
the Bonny Doon limestone quarry and manage it with an Interim
Management Plan
until they choose to resume quarrying. With no production for more than
a year,
however, the quarry is legally considered abandoned. In May, Cemex
officially
notified the County that they were withdrawing their application to
expand the
quarry and instead were finally going to close it. The closure
announcement
brings to an end 103 years of cement manufacture with Bonny Doon shale
and
limestone.

Cemex had invested huge sums on planning and
studies in support
of their proposed quarry expansion, but according to the County Mining
Code,
abandonment means Cemex must begin the reclamation process. This
involves
stabilizing unsafe areas within the quarry, modifying the settlement
ponds and
revegetation of the entire area. A Reclamation Plan has been in place
since
1996 and has applied to areas where operations had been completed.
However, a
2008 Permit Review by the Planning Commission identified various
problems
needing to be remedied. New work is required to address slope stability
and
levee breaching issues and would take place within riparian resource
areas and
on steep slopes.

The work could have a potentially significant
effect on the
environment, so, in a letter dated June 22, County staff informed Cemex
that
they must submit an application to make a Major Amendment to the
Reclamation
Plan within 90 days. The amendments will be subject to Environmental
Review,
leading to a public hearing before the Planning Commission.
The new work required under the Amendment
triggers an update to
the cost estimates that were used to determine the amount of financial
assurance held by the County. It is possible to estimate additional
costs
generated by the Amendment in terms of grading quantities, slope
stabilization
and revegetation costs, so the assurance will be revised upward,
reviewed on an
annual basis and adjusted to account for new lands disturbed by
reclamation,
and reclamation accomplished in accordance with the approved
Reclamation Plan.

The legal abandonment of the limestone quarry
closes a century-long
chapter of Bonny Doon history. The quarry opened in 1969,
replacing the
San Vicente Canyon limestone quarry. The new quarry required Lone
Star, the
cement plant’s owner at the time. to relocate Bonny Doon Road
south of Smith Grade to its present route.

Cemex stopped mining the San Vicente shale
quarry, west of
Bonny Doon Road and south of Redwood Meadows Ranch, a few years ago,
and is
supposed to be revegetating it, pending an agreement with the County.

Granite Construction’s Felton Quarry, which
produces rock,
gravel, sand and asphalt, is still active east of Empire Grade, and is
the only
mining operation left in Bonny Doon. Abandoned quarries dot the
landscape here,
like the San Vicente quarry, the asphalt mine in the Moore Ranch Road
area
(which led to the construction of what was reputedly the nation’s first
asphalt
road, now overgrown, down which the asphalt was brought to the coast),
and
others.

Neal Coonerty Shares Goals For His New Term

Supervisor Neal Coonerty handily won reelection
on June 8. We
asked him what his goals are for his second 4-year term. Here is what
he told us:

• The UCSC application
at LAFCO is an important issue for Bonny Doon; my comment letter to
the
Draft EIR outlined a number of concerns regarding expansion in the
North Campus
that hopefully will be addressed in the Final EIR.

• Improved Bonny Doon
cell phone service: I've met with Planning Director Kathy Previsich
about
this and, with my office's active involvement on this issue, Verizon
Wireless
is moving forward with a plan to attempt to provide better service in
BD.

• Additional road
improvements and Sheriff's services: Empire Grade has had road
improvements
at several locations, as has Ice Cream Grade and Bonny Doon Road, and I
will
continue to advocate for more road improvements in BD as well as
improved
responsiveness with the Sheriff's Department.

• A general goal is to see improved
County
services in a better budget climate. I was able to successfully
advocate to reduce the impact on community programs, Green Schools
programs,
and child protective services in the 2010-11 County budget

• Because of my advocacy, significant
steps
to
reduce
greenhouse
gas
emissions in the County have been
undertaken
(plastic bag ordinance, green building regulations, solar energy
program) and I
look forward to seeing these programs though. The Planning Department
is
working toward expanding the green building program, and the County is
moving
forward on the solar energy financing district (albeit slowly).

• Expansion of public
safety programs including alternatives to incarceration,
development of a
new acute psychiatric care facility and improved heath and mental
health
services.

• A more responsive
Planning Department that continues the County's strong commitment
to
environmental protection. My office is currently setting up a meeting
(that was
requested by the RBDA) with the new planning director.

• Successful completion
of negotiations with Cemex to assure the permanence of Davenport
water and
sewer services.

• Resolution of the
Trust for Public Lands transfer (with environmental protections in
place) of
the Coast Dairies Ranch property.

Walk Like an Ecologist

Is the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve open to
the public? Where
can we walk? These questions came up at a recent gathering of Dooners
and,
since there was uncertainty among those present, we think some
clarification is
appropriate.

The State Department of Fish and Game (DFG),
the owner of the
property, has published the map of the Reserve (below). It shows the
closed
areas, and gives rules for those entering the Reserve.

The areas on both sides of Martin Road between
Ice Cream Grade
and the first mailboxes (as you head toward the Fire Station) are
closed at all
times; they include the high rocks. The rest of the property is open
from
sunrise to sunset, and parking is available in the Reserve's lot (next
to the
Fire Station, indicated with a 'P' on the map), also from sunrise to
sunset.

While there has been spectacular recovery of
wildflowers since
the Martin Fire in June 2008, much of the area remains fragile as the
land is
still suffering from the effects of burning and erosion. Walkers, in
particular, should be aware that many trails are overgrown or covered
with
debris from the fire.And burned
trees' corpses stand waiting to topple in high winds.

So enjoy, appreciate, walk delicately, and be
careful!

For those tempted to enter the closed areas, a
note of caution:
These places are off-limits to protect the vulnerable environment and
its
threatened plants and animals. For those concerned about that
protection, DFG
wardens patrol the Reserve, and CHP officers are responsible for
parking
enforcement along Martin Road and Ice Cream Grade. Sheriff's deputies
back up
both the DFG and CHP personnel. To help protect the Reserve from
damage, you
can report violations by calling DFG at 1 888 334-2258 (the CalTIP
number) and
Sheriff's Dispatch at 471-1121.

HELP PROTECT THE RESERVE

No motor vehicles or bicycles allowed

Stay on established trails

No firearms or other weapons allowed

Don't feed or disturb wildlife

Pets must be on leashes less than 10 ft. long at all
times

No collecting plants, animals or rocks

Carry away all food wrappers or trash when you leave

New County Fees Chill Public Records Act Inquiries

In a step backward from transparency in
government, the Board
of Supervisors on June 22 voted to charge for staff time in preparing
responses
to Public Records Act (PRA) requests for information. The new policy
goes into
effect July 22.

The State law codifies that every California
resident has the
right to “access…information concerning the conduct of the people’s
business.”
Heretofore the County has charged up to 25¢ a page to copy
records, but the new
policy adds staff time, which can run up to $60 an hour or so, on top
of the
copying charges.

The first hour, or up to $25 in costs, is free.
Nevertheless,
PRA requests could now cost hundreds of dollars, which could make it
prohibitive for the average citizen to exercise his/her rights under
the PRA.

The State constitution forbids actions that
would make it
prohibitively expensive to obtain the records.

Exactly how the new policy will work is
unclear. Will the
requester be informed about, and agree to the charges before they are
incurred?

While we understand that the PRA requests can
be expensive for
the county, and that it is trying to find ways to cut costs in a time
of
scarcity, we feel the public’s right to know how government works is
far too
important to limit to people who have deep pockets.

Bonny Doon's voice in preserving our special quality of
life,
The Highlander is mailed free to Bonny Doon residents prior to
the
RBDA General Meetings, which are usually held on second Wednesdays
of
January, March, May, July, September and November.
We encourage you to participate.

Send mail correspondence to the Highlander Editor at the
above
address,
or by email, below.

If you live in or own property within this district,
roughly
from Empire
Grade to the ocean and from San Vicente Creek to the City of Santa Cruz
border, you are eligible to be an RBDA member.

Please support the
RBDA!
Dues payments count for a full year from date received.
Dues mostly go for printing and mailing The Highlander,
your voice for keeping Bonny Doon rural and natural.
Those who make additional contributions qualify as: